AN: So hello again! Here's a new story that took me forever to write...I'm sorry for the length but I'm a really AU writer who writes really long one shots. Check out my profile and you'll see I'm not lying.
About this story: This story is dedicated to Starcalista, when I asked her to give me a prompt she gave me lots of suggestion so I thought why not take those three prompts and make it into one story.
Prompt 1: Flash & Killer Frost
Prompt 2: Barry as Caitlin's doctor
Prompt 3: Barry & Caitlin pretend to be a couple for a mission.
Now I don't really think this could be considered as a 'prompt' base story or if I met the requirements of those prompts but I really hope you like this Starcalista and all my new readers. Honestly it's my first time working on a prompt is this how those things are done?
I don't know about you, but this could be like an AU Flash episode, considering its length. Hahahaha
PS: Please forgive me for the grammatical errors, not an English-native (I'm Asian), and too lazy to proofread and for those science majors I'm sorry I suck at explaining science stuff, it's my lowest grade I got only 565/800 at my CSAT test in high school about 4 years ago so…that should say enough, did get 765/800 for Math, hence is why I'm a Finance major…LOL.
Enjoy!
Fated To Love You
by: Nym13
"Good evening, Dr. Allen, leaving early are you?" A nurse asks the brown haired bloke who was the hospital's youngest and newest doctor, Dr. Bartholomew Henry Allen, better known as simply Barry Allen, or who the other doctors fondly refer to as the junior doctor Allen.
Barry gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the nape of his neck before moving towards the nurse's station.
"Yeah, I'm running late actually." He says and the nurse nods at this, "Got a hot date tonight?" Barry laughs at the irony of it and shakes his head.
"No Gina, my best friend got engaged and tonight's their engagement party."
"Oh, is that right? Did your best friend ask you to be his best man?" Barry sighs at the question and smiles rather resignedly.
"If she could, she would have made me maid of honour." The nurse must have seen a bit of sadness escaping to his eyes, the heaviness in his air and the way he breathes raggedly that made her reach out a hand to pat the young doctor rather sympathetically.
"Don't worry young man, everyone has one of those friends." She tells him, and somehow Barry feels better.
"I know. I'm used to being late." He says in almost a whisper and gave a tight lipped smile at Gina, the senior nurse he's met who fondly treats him like a nephew. But before Barry could say his goodbye they heard a plethora of gasps coming from the Hospital's lounge area and some people opening hospital rooms' doors with cellphones fished from their pockets a collective look of either panic or confusion marring their faces.
Seeing this makes Barry pause in bewilderment, "What's happening?" He turns to ask Gina and her reply is only a shrug, "There's a television in the lounge," she tells him, and Barry gets the idea and rushes towards the area where a group of people were already clustered. He couldn't see what was going on, but with the bits he hears from the people around him, he gathers that a tragedy had just occurred.
He plucks out his phone determined to speed dial Cisco when he sees the elevators opening and medics filling up the already brimming area, various stretchers between them. His doctor instinct kicks in and he joins the nurses and other doctors who were making a beeline towards them. He barely even registers his pager beeping.
"Sorry, Dr. Allen but can we ask you to stay?" The head doctor asks of him and Barry could only say yes.
"Good," Dr. Shepherd tells him and hands him a file, "Please handle this girl. I'm told she's present in the building when a STAR Labs wing exploded. She doesn't seem injured anywhere, just unconscious and the medics found it very hard to touch her because she is abnormally cold, but her vitals are good." Barry nods and says he'll handle the patient as he took the file and a nurse rushes to move the girl into a vacant room.
Barry moves in front of the medical team, and actively asks the people to clear the area and allow them to pass.
He glances behind him and notices that the girl looked frozen and blue. He sees that there's bit of frost bites at the tips of her finger nails and around her ears and he watches it worriedly and wonders if by chance she was kept in a freezer.
It didn't look too aggravating though, he supposes it's just first degree frost nips.
They turn around the corner and finally land in an unoccupied room and the nurses and Barry begun in an orderly jumble of prescriptions and operations to try and make her body temperature revert back to normal, and they dealt with the little frostbites she had.
It must have been almost two hours that Barry had spent with her, all the while ignoring the vibrations for his personal phone, it seemed to him that everything they did was futile, she wasn't getting any warmer and the nurses were flinching each time they touched her, as if burned by her coldness.
He's read her file five times now and couldn't possibly figure out how she ended up that way. The only thing that seemed relevant to him on her file was her driver's license they fished from her belongings. When she wasn't so blue, he finds that she could be quite pretty and he couldn't make out the nagging feeling that he's seen her. That she's familiar and that he knows who she is.
Her name is Caitlin Snow, she is a doctor and a geneticist working for STAR Labs corporation. She was single and twenty-five years of age, and as far as the records were concerned both her parents were dead, and no direct relatives, so they had no one to call and inform of in regards to what has happened to her. Barry watches her worriedly; it seemed that he couldn't do anything to save her. He worries that she might even die tonight.
And even though he expects no one to come and visit her, thereby he as a doctor won't have to tell anyone the bad news he still feels bad for her. Someone should be sitting here beside her, and hoping she'll be alright.
She hasn't got a family to do those for her, so he hopes she's alright that he would have to make do. Barry thinks this as he watches her from his seat.
Barry stands up and walks towards her, the monitor tells him her heart beat is normal but she seems like a cold corpse, stiff, pale, white and blue. He reaches for her hand, to attempt to feel a pulse because he seriously doubts the authenticity of their monitors and instantly her icy skin burns him and he pulls away. He glances at his hand and notices the red marks instantly fading away.
'Knock! Knock!" he spun around startled by the pounding on the door and as he pulls the door open Cisco spills in; a mask of incredulity on his face.
"Dude? Have you forgotten how to pick up your phone?" Barry sighs, "Sorry, the hospital's been busy." Barry reasons out.
"Iris has been looking for you," Cisco informs him and Barry sighs, "I figured, but I've got an emergency here. Apparently a STAR Labs building exploded."
"That's why I've been calling you, have you seen the news? A thermodynamic engine they've been working on exploded… and by the way can I come in?" Barry nods, "Yeah, sure..." And Cisco quickly moves pass him but instantly stops when he sees the person on the bed.
"Dude! Do you know who this is?" Cisco asks him and Barry rolls his eyes, "Of course I do. She's my patient."
"No Barry, she's been in magazines, she's the doctor prodigy Dr. Wells had hired three years ago. I'm sure you've seen her six months ago during the unveiling of the particle accelerator." And suddenly it dawns on Barry why she seemed so familiar.
"I swear, I've seen her when I was interviewed." Cisco, tells him and Barry only nods his head. Being huge fans of Dr. Wells in college, both Barry and Cisco often went to conventions where he gave talks and lectures, having seen each other there, Barry and Cisco quickly became friends.
Just right after college Cisco was scheduled for an interview with STAR Labs but even though he was offered the job Cisco had to decline because of family matters. Still it didn't stop the young engineer from tinkering in his own shop and still obsessing over Dr. Wells in his spare time, well...he and Barry actually.
The particle accelerator was unmasked six months ago, but due to safety reasons the city has not yet granted STAR Labs the permission of testing it out, with the reason that it is too close in the city so they still haven't had the chance of using it.
Just then the ground begun to shake around them, "What's going on?" Barry doesn't answer and instead hastily leaves the room, and Cisco trails behind him. They turned to the hospital glass windows and saw STAR Labs building lighting up, just then massive aftershocks begun reverberating through the walls.
"No one said anything about an earthquake!" Cisco says from behind him, "We've got to get out of here." Cisco tells him but Barry remains glued to his place.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Cisco eyes him as the people in the hospital begun to panic and were running around; an evacuation team was trying to calm down the distressed crowd.
"The patients! We can't leave them here. They'll die." Barry tells him, Cisco barely had the time to argue when another after shock hit them, and suddenly the lights went out and everyone started to scream and Cisco was dragged by the stampeding crowd, "Barry!" Cisco shouts for him, and Barry has half the mind to follow them, but he pauses and looks behind him and makes up his mind to take Caitlin with him.
He pushes the door open, and approaches the still catatonic girl and he hastily removes the apparatuses connected to her and wraps her in a thick blanket and finally cradles her in his arms.
"Aaahhh!" he screams as he felt the coldness from her slip pass his lab coat and sink into his bones. She was light but felt like a block of ice. He breathes deeply and propels himself to move, noticing how heavy and frigid his body was slowly feeling.
He steps out of the room and no one was in sight he tries to look for a wheel chair but spots nothing. In the dark he sees the figure of STAR Lab's building shining brightly like a lone lightbulb in black room, with lightning flashing in the background, the sight momentarily fixates him, but is then instantly distracted by the shivering of his body and the shattering of his own teeth.
He begins to move towards the exit as the elevators are no longer operational. It seems to him that every step he took was weakening him and he felt colder as seconds ticked by, he hears a shattering sound and looks behind him to see shards of glass from the hospital window, where lightning struck, and he begins to feel frightened.
He attempts to run, but then feels a different kind of sharp pain and heat from his back and he falls to the ground. He vaguely remembers Caitlin lying unconscious a few feet in front of him before passing out completely.
But he remembers clearly wondering if he was going to die that day and if it was a blessing or curse that he doesn't get to see Iris' wedding.
And finally, he gives in to the comfort of nothingness.
He could hear a faint beeping sound from his side while his body felt like lead. Even the simple motion of opening his lids seemed like a big ordeal and his throat was parched and dried as if he has forgotten to swallow in years.
He felt awful, but the callings of waking up were prodding him to do move his lazy arse and wake up.
He smells something else too, like fast food and takeout, and his stomach feels empty and he's vaguely wondering, food?
He doesn't know how he does it, but he sees white. And incomprehensible shapes dancing, but as his body remembers to blink these shapes settle into their respective places and he suddenly wonders if he's staring at the ceiling.
He breathes in and feels his lungs expanding and filling up with foreign air, and he gasps. And the beeping from the monitor quickens, and becomes louder.
"Oh, God!" He hears a familiar voice, and suddenly Cisco's face was hovering in front of him, "Barry, are you awake?" He hears him say before his vision fades and he knows he's fallen back into sleep.
It takes quite a handful of hours later when he fully wakes up and after running the standard tests and being given soup to eat, and still feeling hungry Barry Allen finally meets Dr. Harrison Wells who explains to him his situation.
He's been in a comma for over three months now, during which time STAR Labs have lost everything except its Labs and its net assets after all its lawsuits.
Cisco, has been helping Dr. Harrison Wells now, ever since he has offered to take Barry in, Cisco had wanted to be with his best friend.
Dr. Wells also lost his ability to walk and is now confined to his wheel chair
"How's my dad?" Barry asks and Dr. Harrison Wells tells him that just an hour before he woke up his father had visited him, but now he was at the hospital and they haven't called him yet to tell him that Barry has woken up.
Aside from some shattered windows, and a bit of renovation the hospital he used to work at was fine and only a handful of people had died during the earthquake. The earthquake was also caused by the particle accelerator exploding, and until now they wonder why it could have done so.
"There's something I want to ask of you Dr. Allen," Dr. Wells says and Barry nods his head.
"I need a favor from you," Dr. Wells tells him and Barry eyes him curiously, "What is it Dr. Wells?"
"You have been struck by our particle accelerator and if you look at these files you'll understand why I struggled to kept you alive," Dr. Wells hands him a folder and as he skims through it, he gathered that there seems to be an abnormality in his cells and vitals and in a nutshell everything about him was progressing very fast, his healing, metabolism, cell regeneration...everything!
"You understand Dr. Allen than within you could be the answer to the medical future! You are a doctor aren't you? Think of how many people we could save." And Barry pauses because he remembers the time when his mother died from leukaemia when he was fifteen and how he wanted since then to be a doctor and save lives, but not have to deal with oncology.
"Of course, I would gladly help you Dr. Wells." Barry announces and Dr. Harrison Wells smiles gratefully.
"There's one more I would like to ask of you," Dr. Wells tells him and Barry peers at him curiously.
"As you can tell, all my employees have left me. I'm left without functional feet and all I have left are my hands, and how do I say this, but I need extra pairs," Dr. Wells pauses before continuing on, "Come with me if you please Dr. Allen, there's someone I want you to meet." Dr. Wells navigates his way out of the room and Barry uncertainly follows him out.
They go to the room next to his, and as Barry steps into the premise he is shocked by the sight that greeted him.
There at the centre of the room was Dr. Caitlin Snow who remains catatonic and pale. She was in some sort of incubator with dials and a screen that showed her vital signs.
And Barry was honestly surprised to see her there, still alive.
"This is Dr. Caitlin Snow," Dr. Wells begun, "And it is in my understanding that she was your last patient before you were struck by lightning." Barry could only nod at that as he gazed at her transfixed wondering how her chest could still rise and fall rhythmically when she looked like a preserved ice corpse.
"Dr. Allen, you're the only medical doctor in this building and Cisco and I have been trying to normalise her temperature but it has kept on fluctuating." Dr. Wells tells him, "She's one of our most brilliant geneticists, a loyal employee and someone who I consider almost like my daughter. Like you, we believe she was also exposed to our particle accelerator waves when you were struck by lightning adding to her previous exposure to our thermodynamics' energy that she has been working on before that research wing exploded. We don't know what happened to her and I want to ask for your help to help us bring her back." Without any hint of hesitation Barry turned to answer Dr. Well's plea with certainty, "Of course Dr. Wells."
XXX
It didn't take long before they finally found out what that bolt of lightning did to him.
He was suddenly the fastest man alive!
His speed had caused him to have a large appetite and have poked holes at his clothes when they caught on fire each time the friction of his speed gets to be too much that Cisco, with the resources of STAR Labs offered to design for him a heat resistant super suit.
Barry had wanted the color black, but Cisco had pointed out that every cool superhero have had a streak of red, and that was what he was, a running streak of red. Barry decides not to argue further and instead focused on Caitlin.
She was still as cold as ice, and Barry observed the way she reacted each time she touched his hand he could see the obvious change in her temperature. After a few more observations and experiments Barry found out that Caitlin became like a cold blooded animal, someone who absorbs heat, but instead from her environment she absorbs heat from any actual heat source.
They began with warm hot water, and as the hot water turned to ice, Caitlin's temperature rose, but not enough to wake her up, and her little warmth only lasted for barely an hour. Until Cisco suggested that they test the heat of an actual fire on her.
Barry was adamant about it at first but after much prodding they decided to take one of her fingers and held it close to a cigarette's lighter's fire and they were surprised when she sucked out the fire from the simple device.
Between his day job as a doctor and trying to treat Caitlin in STAR Labs, Barry was also working with Dr. Wells and Cisco in regards to studying his new abilities and they have been busy creating various instruments to help better understand his speed.
And one day while in a bank someone had tried to rob it, and not being able to stand by and watch, Barry had apprehended the criminals using his super speed. Needless to say even if he saved the day and was given praises by Cisco, he also received a nice telling off from Dr. Wells.
His life got even more complicated when individuals that were affected by the particle accelerator begun appearing and was starting to cause havoc in the city. It was then that they realised what they needed to do, they needed to catch these meta-humans so that they couldn't harm the city, other people and even themselves.
With so much going on his plate he found his father's concern for him growing each day. Not wanting to worry him, he made the excuse of needing to go back to STAR Labs for various tests, he knows his father could see right through his lies, that's why he's grateful his father trusts him enough to not prod some more.
With so many things happening in his life he needed a comforting solace; that calm spot to rest his weary soul, because even heroes needed a break.
He found that with Caitlin, granted Caitlin didn't do anything but lie there and not move, still, seeing her brought him comfort and hope. Because he knew underneath that coldness was a fiery spirit struggling to stay alive and being a doctor it would mean the world to him to save his patients.
He wants to be there and see the moment she opens her eyes.
Each time he comes back from a mission he finds himself going to Caitlin's room and telling her all about it.
Each time he sees Iris, he feels the hurt of what could be even if he's happy for her. Each time she invites him for a night out with Eddie, he makes excuses of seeing a girl. Iris asks him about the mystery girl he always seem to hide from them and suggest for a double date, but Barry makes evades magnificently. True to his word, Barry does see a girl; Caitlin and he tells her about Iris and his secrets that no one really knows.
Sometimes he even likes to pretend that he sees her moving, sighing or even seeing a ghost of her smile.
It made him wonder what she was like as a person. So he searches her files in STAR Labs' database and sees pictures of her in magazine clippings and various papers with her name on their bylines. Often when he sits beside her he speed reads through her works, and he'd likes to think he knows her a bit more too from the academic papers she has written.
It's funny how people can grow so easily attached to people who do not even know of their existence, Barry often found this reality as absurd until it happened to him with Caitlin. He grew more aware of it when Dr. Wells decided to incinerate her.
"Are you out of your minds?" Barry exclaimed after hearing Dr. Wells' theory and Cisco agreeing with him. Barry stands from his chair both hands on his hips, a look of confused aggravation marring his face, "Let me get this straight," Barry begun, "You want us to cremate Caitlin, because since she visibly sucks the heat out of everything…" before Barry could finish, Cisco butted in "She's what I like to call a heat vampire," seeing Barry glare at him Cisco apologised and Barry continued.
"...inducing her body in flames within a controlled environment will allow us to see how she responds to the sudden influx of heat surrounding her body, since gradual heat has no effect on her maybe casting her in flames will allow her to actually retain heat? Did I leave something out?"
"No, Dr. Allen, in simple terms that's what we meant." Dr. Wells tells him.
"I think we're forgetting something, like I don't know...that she's a human being not a bloody experiment, that is just crossing a damn line." Barry argues and Dr. Wells sighs at him like a parent does when explaining to a child and that unnerves him.
"To the world she's already dead Barry, we've got to try." Dr. Wells tells him, "Yeah, and dude, this is the only chance she's ever going to get or she stays like frozen meat, we don't know how long she'll last being in that state and it's been more than half a year." Cisco pipes in but Barry only shakes his head.
"I refuse to accept that, she's not dead, not until this," Barry points at the screen, "...tells me otherwise. As long as she has brain activity, as long as she has a beating heart, as long as I see the rising and falling of her chest, she's not dead to me. And as her doctor, and might be the only person who's closest to her as a family, I refuse to consent to that." Barry tells them with a hint of finality, but just as Dr. Wells seems to argue with him, they heard a beeping sound from their monitors.
"Guys, there's a robbery at Goldmine bank, and the building is on fire...Barry," Before Cisco could finish Barry was already in his Flash suit, "I'm on it, and no one touches Caitlin." And he was out of the building even before they could blink.
When Barry arrived at the bank a lot of people were trapped the fumes were everywhere and Dr. Wells advised him to form a vacuum with his hands and he succeeded in doing so. He didn't catch the culprit though. And all the CCTV footages for that day had been burned so the police had no lead but the staff has been telling him it was a girl, a girl who could produce flames, and Barry knew he was dealing with another metahuman.
He sped back to STAR Labs with this information, "Cisco!" He called his friend as he arrived, "Pull out the footage of our satellites' gathered near the premise of Goldmine bank and is there any chance we have its CCTV transmission in our database?" And Cisco did as he was asked, "Woah, found something!" Cisco announced and it was a video of a red headed girl as she casted large bouts of flames out of her bare hands and flung it towards the bank at its exit and the fire spread like water on thin paper and instantly enveloped the building in thick flames.
"Dude, this girl is hot!" Cisco says and Barry pointedly looks at him, "I mean literally of course...we should call her Hotness!" Barry smirks at him, "That's a terrible nickname, it sounds like something you'd call your crush in high school until you discover she really is just a hot mess." Barry teases and Cisco rolls his eyes, "We should tell Dr. Wells about her though, where is he?" Barry asks and suddenly Cisco averts looking at him, which gets Barry wondering.
"Well, where is he?"
"I don't know, he said he needed a walk." Cisco stutters out, "The guy's in a wheel chair. What aren't you telling me?" One look at Cisco and Barry knows.
"Caitlin..." He breathes and zooms to her room and finds the incubator empty and he panics and rushes back to Cisco, "Where are they?" Barry demanded and Cisco had the decency to look ashamed.
"I couldn't do anything Barry I had no right, and Dr. Wells, does..." Barry didn't allow Cisco to finish as he grabbed the collar of his friend in both hand, "No, he doesn't...where are they?"
"At the basement..." Cisco says and in a flash, Barry was speeding out, he arrives and sees the furnace visibly heating up and he spots Dr. Wells sitting on his wheel chair observing everything as Caitlin burned away, he tried to push through the force field built to keep him out, no doubt it was Well's idea and a device Cisco built.
"Wells!" Barry screamed as he begun to feel helpless, and Dr. Wells turns to gaze at him a sigh escaping his lips.
"What have you done with her, you had no right!" Barry told him, "I had every right Dr. Allen, I am Caitlin's legal guardian ever since I decided to take her in, she's technically considered as a brain dead patient by the hospitals..."
"Her vitals show otherwise, they just don't understand..."
"Precisely! Her condition is unconventional so her treatment should be equally so." Barry could feel a stream of tears running down the side of his face he punched a wall in frustration.
"You're killing her!" He insisted but Dr. Wells shakes his head, "On the contrary Dr. Allen, I think you'd be pleased to know that Caitlin's temperature is almost normal...told you it'll work." And Barry is shocked by this; still it does not abate his anger. Suddenly, they both here a ticking sound.
"She's done." Dr. Wells announces and Barry screams at him, "Let me in!" And Dr. Wells pushes a button and just as the barrier dissipates Barry rushes in and hastily pulls the lid to the furnace and takes out Caitlin and he is shock by what he sees.
"We have to resuscitate her, Dr. Allen if you don't mind please take her up, we should restart her heart now." Barry nods and cradles Caitlin in his arms noting how her naked body felt warm to him and he almost cries in relief to see that not a lick of flame had managed to hurt her.
He runs her to an operating room in a whoosh of wind and gently places her on operating bed and flings a blanket to preserve a bit of her modesty, and hastily attaches the equipment to her before he grabs a defibrillator and turns it on.
He turns to check on her and she isn't breathing, and unlike before her vitals show that she is dead, she isn't responding, he grabs the defibrillator and sends her the first shock, still there is no response, he counts to three and performs it again, the line remains flat, and he hears Cisco arriving in the room, his eyes doesn't waiver from Caitlin's face. A face that suddenly has gotten back some colour.
Although her once auburn hair had now turned blonde and he says a silently prayer, asking that she not die this way, not when she's finally thawed the ice that surrounded her, he pushes...and she breathes.
Her once brown eyes open, and he sees blue irises.
Barry sighs gratefully as he rushes towards Caitlin's side, "Caitlin," he whispers her name and she turns to look at him, her now blue eyes looking at him in confusion as she recognises her name but not the masked face of the man who has spoken it. And Barry smiles at her, and that's the last thing she sees before she black out again.
But Barry laughs, because there were miracles, and he shakes his head feeling foolish for ever doubting, because the impossible would happen; he is proof of the impossible.
"You're right," Barry says as he sensed Dr. Wells settle behind him, "And this time, I'm glad that you are. But we don't do this anymore; we shouldn't risk people's lives." And Dr. Wells nods his head in understanding.
Barry reluctantly leaves for the night as his job at the hospital calls for him, but everyone notices the lightness in his steps and how the young doctor seemed relieved and happy, Gina calls him out on it, "You look like a man who won the lottery or got the girl." Gina comments and Barry winks, "You can say I got the girl," Barry whispers and Gina gives him a confused look.
"What? She's leaving her husband?" And Barry laughs, because he finds it amusing that Gina thinks it's Iris.
"I'm not talking about Iris, it's some other girl..." Barry says and Gina nods her head knowingly and pats his hands, "Yes, everyone has those other girls too, and they usually end up as the girl. Good luck with her Barry," And Barry says his thanks before he finally walked away to start in his rounds.
Wondering why the thought of Iris didn't sent waves of pain to him anymore.
A few hours later he bumps into his father and he waves him to come to him, Barry smiles and plops down on a seat from across him, but he sees the sombre look on his father's face and he worries.
"Barry, how are you?"
"I'm fine dad."
"Really? Because you work here at nights and you go to STAR Labs at day, when do you sleep?" Barry sighs, "Dad, I'm a doctor I think I would know what sleep deprivation does, and I'm not sleep deprived."
"What I am is concerned, even Iris is worried about you, she called me asking where you were because she barely sees you, and whenever she stops by at your flat she never catches you at home. I know being struck by lightning and seeing Iris happily married may be hard on you..."
"Dad, this isn't about Iris. Okay, I'm fine. Really I am."
"I'll wait for you at home; you're sleeping in my house tonight."
"But dad, I have to be somewhere!" Barry insisted and Henry turns to ask him, "Where Barry, where are you going?" And Barry bites on his tongue.
"Just do it for me son, I'm getting worried for you. You're the only family I have, and I would sleep better at night if I knew you were sleeping soundly too. I see it Barry, I'm your father I see how tired you are." And Henry Allen pats Barry's shoulders and leaves and all Barry could do was drop his head into his palms.
He couldn't visit Caitlin after work because his father needed him. His only consolation from this was the certainty that she was going to be alright.
He arrived at STAR Labs at lunch time, a rare occurrence that he us late, if he was honest he overslept. He did think he could sleep, much less sleep like a rock.
"Hey, how is she?" Barry asks Cisco, and the latter sighs, "Not good. We told her about everything, how she's a suspected meta-human and she barely has eaten what we gave her and she stays quiet. We told her we cremated her to revive her. I think she's troubled that she's like a Phoenix rising from the ashes."
"Wait, you didn't tell her that did you? That she's like a Phoenix?" Cisco grins sheepishly, "I might have told her I thought she was cool that she didn't burn when we incinerated her, and like a Phoenix she was reborn." Barry shakes his head fondly.
"I think Phoenix should be her code name. It suits her don't you think." Barry tells Cisco, "Where's Dr. Wells?"
"At a university giving a lecture."
"Oh, okay. I'll check on Caitlin now, where's her food, you said she hasn't eaten it yet?"
"By her bedside, I left it there for her, just in case she changes her mind." Barry nods his head and begins to walk away, "Still think Heat Vampire sounds better than Phoenix!" Cisco calls out and Barry laughs.
He steps inside her room and sees Caitlin sitting up, her arms closing around her legs and her chin sitting on top her knees, her now long blonde hair lays straight and flat against her back, and for a moments the sight of her stuns him and he wonders how she seems like a dream and yet so real.
She hears him enter and her blue eyes lands on him.
"Who are you?" she asks, and Barry finds it difficult to swallow, "I'm Dr. Allen, I'm here to check up on you." he says in monotone, and he mentally kicks himself at sounding so impersonal but Caitlin only nods, unaffected and Barry berates himself that as far as everyone was concerned they were strangers.
He performs the customary check-up routine and notices that Caitlin was slowly losing her warmth, her temperature was dropping at a steady rate, "Are you feeling cold?" it seems to him that Caitlin didn't hear him, he was about to ask her the question again when she speaks, "Isn't it normal for me to feel cold?"
"Caitlin I'm your doctor," Barry begins but Caitlin cuts him off, "I'm a doctor too Dr. Allen, and I should tell you what you did to me, cremating me, didn't solve the problem, I can feel it...the coldness emanating from me." Caitlin says, "It's vile and it's cruel. I can feel it...it's-"
Barry grabs her hand and she stares at it, it feels cold to his touch but he rubs it soothingly, "It's confusing, but I'm here to help you get through this. You don't have to be afraid. You're my patient and I'm your doctor, aren't I?" and Caitlin flinches from his touch and takes her hand back Barry stared at her in confusion.
"Didn't you feel it?" Caitlin asks him but Barry just gave her a look of puzzlement and Caitlin sighs, "When you held my hand it didn't feel so cold anymore and I knew I must be stealing some of your warmth. You mustn't touch me, you mustn't come near me. It's not safe." And Barry smiles at her comfortingly.
"That's really not possible Dr. Snow, haven't you heard Dr. Allen never leaves a patient."
"This isn't funny, I'm not some human-experiment you can happily observe,"
"You're not...believe me, I don't see you that way. Wouldn't you like to eat?"
"Aren't you afraid of me, of what I can do, I'm basically a freak of nature."
"I can tell you you're not the worse, and if you're a freak of nature, then I must be too."
"You? You're a metahuman too?" Barry nods his head, "What can you do?"
"Run fast," and Caitlin sighs, "That really doesn't sound bad, it must be fun, running must have taken you to really interesting places." and Barry smiles.
"It takes me to places, but not really lands me anywhere." And Caitlin nods.
"And you, how does it feel like to be so cool?"
"I'm cool, not really to whom it matters. I mean where are my high school tormentors, bet you they'd be surprised." and Barry laughs because Caitlin Snow ends up to be someone he could genuinely relate too and like, and one day even call as a friend.
"Locked up a high school nemesis if you must know..." And Caitlin laughs and eats her lunch. Barry tells her about himself and his alter ego and notices how much nicer it is to talk to her while she's awake.
"This rapid speed of yours, speeds up your metabolism and healing activities you say?" Caitlin asks, she seemed genuinely interested by the mechanics of his cells and has been asking him various questions like a curios student, and he supposes he understands her curiosity.
"Yeah, here I'll show you," And Barry stands up, whilst Caitlin looks on, he grabs a scalpel and presses his thumb to it, alarmed Caitlin stands up, "What are you doing?" She says as she rushes towards him and grabs his hand that was holding the thin knife.
"No, it's okay, look..." And Caitlin peers at his grazed thumb and saw that it was still bleeding, but slowly...the gash was closing and in less than five minutes the gash was completely gone.
"Interesting." Caitlin says absently over his shoulder, and Barry looks at her and says, "And so are you..." and Caitlin looks at him quite surprised.
"What?" And Barry blushes and gestures at her hand grabbing his arm, and Caitlin's eyes widens before pulling away, small crystalline dust littered around Barry's arms and left an imprint of Caitlin's fingers.
"When you grabbed me I felt the ice forming against my skin, I didn't want to startle you with it. But, look what you can do, it is also interesting." And it must be his words, or her realisation but Barry wants to pretend he saw a ghost of a smile crossing her lips.
"I still think you should have cleaned it. Being a doctor, you of all people should know how open wounds can be very prone to infection if left untreated."
"I still think you should trust me, being your doctor I should know better." And the two doctors shared a laugh until Cisco calls for Barry as another bank was currently burning.
After his mission, Barry arrived at Star Labs and saw Dr. Wells, Cisco and Caitlin in the lounge.
"I think it was Hotness!" Barry announces and both Dr. Wells and Caitlin gave him puzzled look but Cisco only snapped his fingers.
"Me too, when I realised it's the same bank I figured it must be her, so I ran her face records and here's what I found," Cisco said as he begun typing in his computer and the other three gather closely to him, Barry glances at Caitlin and notices the flush in her cheeks as she was pale before he left, "Looking good Caitlin," he says and Caitlin blushes and whispers to his ear, "Just got out of the 'oven', I think I might be a little too tan."
"Guys, her name is Jules McLare, no priors and is a law student. She was featured in the news when she was ten because her father committed suicide and she has inherited quite the trust fund. Andrew McLare her father owed a large sum to the Golden Mine Bank leading to the acquisition of their businesses and other properties. Fortunately for Jules her father had set aside insurance for her, or she would have been left penniless when he died. She has no other living relatives as her mother died when she was six. She hasn't been seen in her school in weeks." Cisco tells them and Dr. Wells turns to address Barry.
"Sounds like a motive, I think you should visit Ms. McLare," Barry turns to Cisco and scribbles the latter hastily scribbles down an address for him. He hands the paper to Barry.
"That's her address." Cisco tells him, and Barry nods his head before putting his mask back on, "Be careful," Caitlin tells him and he smiles at her before turning on his heel and speeding away.
Barry arrives at Jules' flat using his super speed, and jimmied her door knob. Her flat was small but neat, with family pictures dressing the mantle. He runs to her room and notices an empty envelop on her desk, he grabs it and calls Cisco, "Cisco, do you see this envelop?" He asks, "It says LoveHurts charity event know anything about it?"
"I do," and Barry is surprised by Caitlin's voice, "It's a charity event for a cancer foundation, you're a doctor shouldn't you know this?" And Barry sighs, "What can I say I specialise in infectious diseases, not really oncology since it gives me bad memories." Barry replies.
"What memories?" Caitlin asks but then Cisco cuts in, "Guys, focus!" And Barry nods to himself and speed searches the room, all the while careful of returning her things back to their respective places.
"Her place is clean," Barry informs them, "Nothing is too clean, it's just hidden or might be too small to see..." Caitlin tells him, "Feel the walls Barry, like in those Bond movies, there's bound to be a hidden lair. Every villain has one." Cisco tells him.
"Are you kidding me?" Barry asks Cisco in incredulity, "She's a freaking McLare, she's bound to have a lair." Cisco insists and Barry leans at a wall and takes the time to gaze around the room and finds a statue of a gargoyle perched on a book shelf pressed between stacks of books interesting, "Hey guys," Barry speaks, "What do gargoyles symbolise again?"
"Traditionally, they're believed to ward off bad spirits and unwanted guests, sometimes they could even mean protection. Why?" Caitlin asks him and Barry smirks as he palmed the gargoyle finding a small button at the top of its head and he presses on it. The book shelf moved to reveal a small partition inside an archway.
"What's happening, Barry?" Caitlin asks him, they must have heard the bookshelf opening.
"I think," Barry begins, "I might have found her lair." Barry enters the premise with Caitlin's careful warnings still ringing in his ear. He tried to feel a switch and when he found it, he turned on the lights and was surprised to see various pictures of the same man and newspaper clippings; even family photos.
"Barry, what do you see?" Dr. Wells finally asks him, Barry searches the room and reads a newspaper clipping and sees a name the captured his attention, "Do you guys know who Elton Gold is?" He asks, and Dr. Wells replies.
"Yes Barry, get back to the lab now I think we may have what we need." Barry glances at the place uncertainly but decides to heed Dr. Well's advice and run away from Jules McLare's flat.
He arrived at STAR Labs to find Dr. Wells, Caitlin and Cisco waiting for him, Dr. Wells hands Barry an envelope which is the envelop that Jules' had. He glances at him in puzzlement.
"LoveHurts charity foundation is one of the charities founded by the Goldmine Banks. Goldmine Banks' C.E.O and founder is Elton Gold. It is my belief that Jules wants Gold dead or destroyed, as she believes he's the reason why her father committed suicide. She's been attacking the same bank, her goal is to injure him." Dr. Wells says, "Mr. Gold, will be at the charity event to be held at Luxe Hotel, scheduled tomorrow evening. Jules will be there. There is no telling what she will do because of her vendetta against Gold, innocent lives might be put to danger because of her."
"What can we do?" Barry asks, "You need to capture her there Barry, but you must also be careful not to cause a scene or draw any attention to yourself. I'll procure an invite for you." Dr. Wells answers and Barry nods his head.
"Wait! Make that two invites Dr. Wells," Caitlin says, "I want to go too."
"Caitlin-" Wells starts to say but before he could even begin to argue Caitlin reasons out, "I suck heat from various heat sources. If she does anything dangerous, I might just be able to neutralize her flames if not completely extinguish them," Caitlin offers but Barry shakes his head, "Caitlin hasn't been out of the lab in months. Her condition is still under observation and just because she turns to ice is not a guarantee she won't combust if Jules does." Caitlin crosses her arms at his remarks.
"So you think I can't handle it?" Caitlin asks him bitingly and Barry visibly winces, he knows he will throw her off if he says the wrong thing, but he's also worried about Caitlin, her powers might overwhelm her, much like a high schooler does after getting a car but having no driver's license.
"Yes, I do think you can't handle it," Barry resolutely tells her and Caitlin purses her lip, "I've had weeks of getting used to my powers you've been awake for only two days, you can harm other people and even yourself." Caitlin continues to look at him sternly and he felt the urge to look away.
"Cisco, tell him." Caitlin says and Cisco looks startled and shifts his gaze from Caitlin to Barry, "Hey, I don't want to be in the middle of two metahumans fighting, have you heard of civilian casualty? Yeah, I won't be that." Caitlin fixes him a glare and Cisco raises his arms in surrender before turning to look at Barry, "I'm giving her a glove." Barry knits his eyebrows in confusion.
"What does giving Caitlin a glove have to do with anything?" Cisco sighs before proceeding to tell them that even while Caitlin was asleep he had the idea of developing a glove for her that will protect her hands from the cold, because she might get a frostbite. He often wondered why she was so easily cold until they realised her 'coldness' came from inside her. And so he made a glove designed to keep the cold in her.
And ever since they found out she could suck the heat out of every heat source, to avoid accidents he decided to make it heat resistant as well.
"And you've tested this?" Barry asks them, And Cisco turns his back to open one of the shelves and peels out long and black gloves and hands it to Caitlin.
Caitlin takes it gratefully and pulls it up to her arms. She then walks towards Barry and reaches for his cheek, she traces his jaw line with her fingers and palms the hollowness of his cheek, and Barry's senses are instantly heightened at that spot and he unconsciously leans further into her touch.
"I don't affect you, don't I?" Caitlin tells him, and for a moment Barry's mind is a clear blank, since he could definitely argue that. Because clearly having those beautiful eyes of hers must be a crime. Bright blue and shining like a winter night sky.
The way her straight ice blonde hair falls perfectly against the angles of her cheeks, framing her face beautifully. She was still in her white hospital gown but to Barry, she seemed like an angel, and he mentally slaps himself for thinking such cliché thoughts.
Because even though it was just a girl's hand on his cheek, even though it wasn't even skin to skin, he'll be lying if he denies the effect she has on him.
And Caitlin drops her hand from his and backs away. He almost reaches for her hand. Almost.
He sees her wide eyes brimming with unshed tears and he suddenly feels helpless.
"If I wear this," Caitlin says, "I won't hurt anyone." Caitlin tells all of them.
"So you don't have to be afraid." Barry doesn't want to sound pretentious but he thinks Caitlin must have said that last part for him. And he shakes his head, because she couldn't possibly think that he's afraid of her.
"Please, let me go." Caitlin turns to address Dr. Wells, and the latter nods his consent. Caitlin smiles briefly and says her thanks. Barry was about to question that decision and was about to follow Caitlin as she begun moving out of the room, but the protest on his lips died when he felt Dr. Wells grab his arm and pin him where he stood.
"Don't upset her too much." And Barry looks at Dr. Wells, "Why? What happened?" he asks and Dr. Wells sighs.
"While you were gone to check the bank we ran some test on Caitlin and discovered her body was able to retain heat in approximately thirteen hours and twenty-three minutes, before she started turning cold again and freezing anything she touches. We told her if she absorbs too much heat from a source she'll continue to drain it until that thing becomes a block of ice. Let's say she touches a human being, she can potentially kill them by feeding off their body heat. Caitlin is one of the most guarded persons I know but working with her all these time, allowed me to see what kind of person she is," Dr. Wells explains, "She's a doctor and she values her work and saving lives. For a person like that, to have something like this happen to them, to have their purpose taken...she must feel like a parasite feeding off her hosts."
"Well, in those thirteen hours she stays normal doesn't she?" Barry asks.
"Barely, she's okay but in staggering amounts she loses that normalcy, you might not see it, but in time, she will feel that need, the more she feeds on heat the more she'll become addicted to it. Who knows when she'll lose control? Caitlin already feels it, she's starting to crave even if she's just fed on a heat source she still drains heat from anything that is warm, only slowly and bit by bit, but it does not stop." Dr. Wells says, and Barry sighs.
"I'll check on her," He says and speeds off towards Caitlin's room, he finds her instead in the stock room, bending down at the lower cabinet, tugging at a box, he thinks it's adorably funny how she struggles with its weight, but still remain persistent.
"Need some help?" Caitlin's startled by his voice, so much that she bumps her head at the upper shelf of the cabinet, she groans in pain and Barry rushes towards her.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Caitlin says stubbornly but continues to rub her right eyebrow, and as she takes her hands off it, there's a small imprint of blood licking her fingers, Barry's eyes widens at seeing this.
"Caitlin, you're bleeding." Barry says as he grasps her wrist in his hand, and Caitlin flinches at his touch.
"I'm sure it's just a small cut, besides I might have the same superhuman healing abilities like you." Caitlin says but Barry grabs her arm, "Small or not, you of all people should know how an open wound can easily get infected if left untreated." Barry says as he uses the line she's delivered and she glares at him and untangles her arm from his hold.
"Don't touch me." She tells him, "Come on Cait, I barely felt your coldness." Barry says and Caitlin crosses her arms.
"Don't call me Cait," Caitlin reprimands him, "You didn't but I did. I'll treat the wound myself so don't bother." Caitlin tells him as she turned her back to him, preparing to leave the room, but Barry whooshes pass her, and blocks her escape route with a first aid kit already in his hands.
"I got dibs on the medical kit," Barry informs her and Caitlin cocks an eyebrow, "So, that means I get to play doctor." he adds rather smugly, while Caitlin looked like she was about to argue, but she bit her lower lip and sighed.
"Fine! Do whatever you want." She says as she flailed her arms and Barry laughs because her actions reminded him so much of a child, "And for the record, you cheated!" Caitlin reminds him and Barry chuckles some more.
There were no available chairs in the room so Caitlin propped herself up a desk and sat on it, like an overgrown child, the expression on her face was an annoyed impatience, and Barry settles in front of her. He dons on the surgical gloves, more for show than of necessity.
"What were you doing here anyway?" Barry asks Caitlin, "Besides hitting your head on a shelf, of course." He says teasingly, and Caitlin rolls her eyes at him.
"I was looking for those old STAR Labs sweaters, in case it skipped your notice but I've been running around in nothing but a hospital gown. Besides hitting my head on a shelf, of course." Barry smirks at her before grabbing her chin to tilt her head to the left so he could see her cut better; he grabs a cotton swab, dabbed with a bit of disinfectant and cleans the blood surrounding the wound. He notes that her cut isn't too deep to need stitches.
"You don't have to go Caitlin," He tells her and Caitlin sighs, "You don't understand, I have to go..." she says almost quietly and he stares at her now blue eyes. Barry thinks her icy irises were beautiful, still he wonders what shade were her brown eyes and what colour they turned into when the sun glistened inside them. Or if she misses her auburn brown hair. Does she even recognise the girl in the pictures or has she lost her too and became this metahuman?
Because even though he's still the same Barry, he can't imagine himself not being the Flash.
Why does he even think of these silly things?
"Why do you need to go?" Barry questions Caitlin as he continued to hold onto her gaze.
"I'm a doctor Barry. If there's one thing I'm good at its saving and helping people. My job was my life. It was something that I could do that made me feel relevant, that made me feel useful." Caitlin says, "And I don't have that anymore. I can feel it you know...I'm losing my humanity as fast as I'm losing body heat, the change in my genetic make-up...it's doing something to me, don't you feel it too?" she asks him and Barry looks at her in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Your cells, they move so fast, in turn you do as well, your physicality what makes you fast, starts from inside you. Bodies evolve and react to changes in their environment, what more if the change happens within them? Everything is heightened inside you, you not only move faster but you tend to think faster as well. But you're not really thinking! For neurological transmissions in your body to match the tempo of your limbs, you need to form decisions faster to do that your inhibitions would have to be lowered, because a good decision takes time, but you I assume you are more impulsive now than before, and you'll realise your mistakes later when reason finally catches up with you." Caitlin explains.
"That's a change Barry, you've change, you lose a bit of your humanity; that ability to have reign and control over your emotions; that logical side that isn't too dictated on your emotions." She adds, "Emotions are volatile and fleeting but are messages our brains receive faster, because emotions is akin to sense, a sense of feeling, while decision making is like digestion; it happens after you've tasted food. Do you understand?" Caitlin says as she traces the width of his right chest, as if telling him, that there was his heart, her fingers drawing patterns on it, as if tracing the contours of his beating centre. Like she coveted it, and he was afraid that she might actually steal it.
He doesn't know if it's the coolness from her fingers but he feels himself shudder at her touch.
"I think you might be right." He says instead, and it's as if Caitlin realise her mindless motions and pulls her hand away, "But you're still human now Cait, that does not change… you can still have your old life back, what are you so afraid of?" and Caitlin smiles sadly at him.
"Cold, turns liquid molecules into solid, it slows down motion, and it numbs...soon I think, I will lose the ability to feel, to have empathy. I will lose my heart and I will be like a machine only seeing the logic of things, someone trying to survive and not knowing life. A doctor should have that heart, that hope that even if there's one percent chance of survival you take that to save your patient than not do anything at all...and that's how miracles are born, with that belief." She says as she bites on her lower lip and he sees her eyes watering.
"Who I am now, does not grant me that liberty. My existence is a threat; I'm a danger to the people that surrounds me. I fear that my emotions will one day shut down completely and I will think of nothing but surviving and suck the life out of anyone I see regardless if I love them or not. While I can still do something good, just please...let me help you. Let me be of use." She says this time, Barry knows it's her gaze that's holding his, and he doesn't know why there's this ache in his heart.
Caitlin not be human? He does not think that's possible, who he sees now is a woman with so much compassion and foresight, some who was passionate and brilliant and someone who was genuine and does not pretend. She's transparent and so easy to read, and vulnerable and he just wants to protect her. And certainly he cannot feel this strongly towards a machine.
She's a real person to him.
"Right now I really need you to sit still." He tells her instead, and Caitlin smiles, but he knows that smile hasn't quite reached her eyes.
"I was beginning to wonder why you kept staring at me; you haven't fixed me up yet." Caitlin says as she gestures at the medicine kit that seems to lie beside her and forgotten.
"I was trying to figure out if we had the same healing powers, unfortunately you don't." Barry says and Caitlin nods her head. Barry begun dabbing some medicine on her wound.
"What a shame I could really use that healing powers in the kitchen."
"Remind me never to eat any of your cooking." He teases her and she crosses her arms, while he puts a plaster over it.
"Hey now, I've heard that in some cultures they actually eat blood. And I'm told that it's really delicious when cooked." Caitlin tells him as she jumps off the table.
"Not in this culture though. We don't have the stomach for it." Barry says and steps closer towards her, effectively trapping Caitlin between the table and himself. Barry hasn't given much thought of it but with the way he's looking down on her and Caitlin looking up, just made him feel the urge to close that distance and just kiss her.
"Don't worry Caitlin, you're still human in my books." He says quietly and he sees the hope hidden behind her eyes, that one percent need to beleive in the impossible he knows is still alive in her and as long as she has that he believes that she couldn't be more human, "If you want to, well try to bring you back." Barry offers and Caitlin smirks.
"You better remember that promise, I don't really fancy having straight blonde hair and blue eyes." And he smiles at her and wonders how Caitlin could do that to him, how despite her coldness and reservations she seems to know how to warm his insides with her insights and attempts to humour him.
"Do you know heat and cold are opposites." She tells him.
"I also know they're both nouns. Tell me something I don't know."
And he tips his head lower and he catches her close her eyes.
And he knows, the tension is there, so screw logical thinking because he's a proven impulsive speedster, and maybe Caitlin just wants to feel, and not be numb, and maybe that's enough reason to give in.
But his suit starts ringing and startled by this they pull apart. Both blushing at the memory of the almost kiss.
"Barry, where are you and Caitlin?" Cisco asks him, and Barry never wanted to kill his friend until that moment for his 'impeccable' timing and spun around to hide the reddening of his cheeks from Caitlin, all the while feeling stupid for seeming like a teenager.
"Yeah, we're together, what is it?"
"Dr. Wells wants to have a group meeting, meet you both at the lounge."
"We'll be there." Barry tells him and turned to face Caitlin who was already wearing a STAR Labs sweater over her hospital gown.
"We should go," Barry tells her and Caitlin nods, he approaches her then, surprise etching her face as he carries her into his arms. Caitlin buries her face at the crook of his neck as he sped towards the lounge all the while hoping that the lounge was somehow miles further, he doesn't even mind the cold.
When Barry and Caitlin arrived in the lounge Dr. Wells and Cisco were already waiting for them there. Dr. Wells explained to them that the charity event was a masked ball-themed gala, with the Great Indian Circus performing, and various bands were going to play there as well.
It was to start at seven thirty, tomorrow night so they had approximately twenty-six hours to prepare for it. When Barry argued that he could just whisk Jules now Dr. Wells reasoned that they needed to find Jules first, and base on her school records, she hasn't gone back to school in weeks. They're counting that she'll show up in the event because Mr. Gold will be there.
Dr. Wells also wanted to subject Caitlin through a series of test to figure out the capacity of her powers. Caitlin agreed to this.
Cisco jokingly calls the cremation process Caitlin had to go through to get her temperature to normalise as 'microwaving' her or even 'popping' her into the oven. Barry finds this disturbing but oddly enough Caitlin seems to like it. Barry supposes maybe it's just a cover up, so she doesn't have to show them her fears.
After Caitlin's temperature tested out to be normal they lit a candle and told her to place a finger over it, during the first hour Caitlin flinched and was lightly burned by the flame and Barry had to tend to it. She also couldn't produce ice during the first hour. On the second hour, she still got burned and Barry was starting to doubt her fingers would survive the night, but her temperature was starting to drop.
Three hours later Caitlin was barely burned as the flames seemed to repel against her and actually went out, her temperature was dropping.
By the fourth hour, Caitlin was starting could produce ice and sucked the heat from the candle.
The fifth hour rolled in and her temperature dropped almost as if she was suffering from hypothermia, and she could already create small ice sculptures with her hands.
On the sixth hour Caitlin was already shivering and just standing in her presence made them feel cold almost as if she was an air conditioner.
"What's going on, I thought she had thirteen hours of having a normal temperature." Barry asks Dr. Wells, and Dr. Wells replies, "Her body might be more prone to losing more heat because it can no longer be satiated by that little heat source, maybe her body now craves for more, like an addict who always wishes for the high. Cisco, get the furnace ready." Dr. Wells says and Cisco nods his head, "I'm on it."
"No, wait!" Caitlin says as her teeth shatters and then she fell to the ground and started convulsing, violently. Barry rushes towards her and she hold up her hand to him and throws a gush of cold wind towards his way. And Barry stops and watches as Caitlin begun suffering spasms on the ground, the incessant tremors of her body worsening.
"I think her hypothermia has worsened, she needs to feel heat, now!" Barry says and as he steps forward Caitlin raises her hand and a layer of ice begun to form that divided the room into two. Barry, Cisco and Dr. Wells were on one side while at the other was Caitlin.
Barry pounded on the thick but almost transparent ice; he could still see Caitlin's shivering form from beyond it.
"What are you doing Caitlin!" Barry shouts at her.
"I think," Caitlin begun her voice quivering, "I'm suffering forms of withdrawal symptoms. Like any addict, I need to fight this...so please, don't come any closer." Caitlin draws out between grinding her teeth, and they watched as her body continued to convulse and she trashed about.
It must be almost an hour later of Barry arguing with himself and trying to control his impulse to put a hole through the ice wall Caitlin built before Caitlin calmed down.
"Caitlin?" Barry asks, and he received no response. Barry wasted no time to destroy the wall of ice and saw Caitlin sprawled on an ice covered floor, her body pale and her eyes closed.
"Caitlin!" And Barry rushes towards her and touches her hand, he flinches at the cold and drapes her hand over his shoulder, "I'll take her to her room." Barry says and Dr. Wells nodes his head, and then Barry leaves.
As Barry was running he couldn't help but notice that he wasn't running as fast as he would like and a chill was starting to run past his spine, but he shook away at the discomfort and finally they arrived.
He attaches the various equipments to Caitlin hastily and surmised that her condition was stable, she appears to only be sleeping. And he sighs with relief before settling on the chair beside her, another hour seemed to have passed before Caitlin finally wakened.
"Caitlin? How are you feeling?" Barry asks her and for a while she looks at him rather disoriented before opening her mouth to speak, "I feel fine and not so cold anymore, how do I look?"
"Pale." And Caitlin snorts.
"You're pale but not as pale as before and the gash on your eyebrow opened again because you were squinting so hard. I already treated it." Barry informs her.
"I guess I was right, I think I suffered a withdrawal syndrome back there. I feel better now, almost as if I'm used to the cold."
"Caitlin," Barry reaches out for her hand but Caitlin takes her arm before he could reach for it and Barry sighs and takes his own hand to ruffle his hair in frustration.
"Next time we should really talk about the risks you take, you could have died." He tells her angrily as he recalls feeling useless, he couldn't believe he actually allowed himself to let Caitlin put herself in danger.
"I didn't." She tells him quietly and Barry just sighs.
"You have to quit disregarding yourself. I'm your doctor, I worry about you." And Caitlin laughs, Barry cocks and eyebrow at her questioningly. He couldn't believe she was laughing at his plight, like it was some sort of nonsensical joke.
"I'm sorry it's just that I've used that card quite often when I was doing my internship in college." She tells him and she bites her lower lip which Barry worries about because she might cut it with the constant torture she inflicts upon her lip.
"I'm not use to people fussing or caring about me, that's usually my job." Caitlin smiles sadly as she plays with the loose threads in her blanket and Barry smiles too.
"Well I'm not used to a patient complaining about being treated and cared for by me, they usually leave before any of that happens." Barry jokes and. Caitlin laughs.
"Well they've made a mistake. I think you're a splendid doctor."
"Well I think you've made a mistake too. You aren't so bad at being the patient." And Caitlin rolls her eyes and asks him, "What are we doing? Are we continuing this game of what you and I do or do not do? And vocalising our opinions of each other that clearly show our differences. Do you hear us, contradicting and besting the other like some form of competition?"
"Oh yes, definitely! Unless you find better ways to spend your time with." He tells her cheekily, "Besides I get to learn more from you by the way you talk." He adds.
"And I learn more from you by the way you listen; only hearing the most irrelevant things."
"I'm just observing what matters." Barry points out and Caitlin sighs.
"And you miss the point."
"Well played Caitlin"
"I think," Caitlin begins, "We are quite the pair Dr. Allen." She tells him grinning, and he nods his head at her, "Yes we are Dr. Snow." And they talked about their childhood like old friends do.
Barry found out that Caitlin liked going to the lighthouse near the beach because even after centuries since it was built its purpose continues to remain unchanged. Despite modern technology, no one destroys light houses. And for a girl who's never been a fan of surprises and unpredictability, Caitlin finds the constancy of lighthouses oddly exhilarating and comforting. So each time she feels lost or sad, standing beneath a light house seem to just calm her down, because it reminds her that things always find their way back home no matter how far the distance and that the solution is often quite simple.
And Barry tells him how his mother died of cancer and despite being a doctor he doesn't like handling cancer patients, because it reminds him of the grief and the bleakness the patients and their families face together. So he stays away from it. He thinks it's because he has a problem with moving on, and letting go.
He's one who holds grudges, never forgets, often filled with regret because there are so many things he wants to change in his life as much as he does not want to change as well. In the end he's the one that complicates everything.
Caitlin falls asleep at three a.m., and so does Barry on his seat. Until Barry's phone rings at eight a.m., "What?" Barry says as he presses the answer button without bothering to look at the caller id. "It's me son," And Barry's father asks him about where he's been because he didn't show up at work and reminds him about lunch plans with the Wests, well actually, Joe, Eddie and Iris. And Barry promises he would be there before ending the call and sighing some more, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes, that's when he realises that Caitlin was awake, thankfully she hasn't gotten more paler.
"Hi, are you hungry?" He asks her and she shakes her head, "No, was that your father?" she asks him and he nods, "Oh, yeah...sometimes I wonder if he knows that he's being too overprotective. I mean I love him and all but I'm a grown man." And Caitlin smiles sadly.
"At least you still have a father," She tells him, "My parents died, one of the reason I hate change...family should be your constant shouldn't they, so go home Barry." Guiltily Barry stands up, "You'll be fine won't you?" He asks her and Caitlin nods her head.
"We'll be fine, Cisco will call you if we need anything, so go." She tells him and he obeys as he heads towards the door but stops and smiles at her "See you later?" Barry asks.
"See you later." Caitlin replies and he leaves.
His lunch was fun but rather uneventful since no one questioned him about his incessant disappearances and he's grateful for it. He supposes everyone was just happy to see him. What troubles him though is the fact that seeing Iris and Eddie together doesn't hurt him.
Sure there's a twinge of jealously but it's probably more of what they have than them being together. And he's thoughts has recently been filled with nothing but Caitlin.
As he waits for the food to cook he wonders if she has the appetite to eat.
Every bite he took made him wonder if Caitlin was once again convulsing, and he must have pulled out his phone a hundred of times wishing Cisco would send him a text.
"Hey," Barry stares up and Iris was standing before him.
"Hey!" He replies and scoots over so Iris could settle beside him
"So where you've been these days?"
"Nowhere." He says knowing that the inevitable interrogation was now on its way.
"Funny how that sounds like quite a place. What's been running through your mind Bar, and it's not only me everyone can see that you've been preoccupied." And Barry remembers that Iris is his best friend before being the girl he secretly pines for. And he decides to tell her about Caitlin.
"It's just that there's this girl, I barely know her and she's my patient, so of course I know I should care for her, but lately I think that maybe I'm too attached to her? I mean she latches on my mind like some sort of virus, and I just can't figure it out. Why she has this effect on me?"
"Oh Barry, and here I thought you were dying." Iris jokes and Barry sighs.
"Trust me at times it feels like that."
"But then it gets better too doesn't it?" Iris asks him and Barry smiles fondly at how good it feels to talk to Caitlin and the unexplainable happy feeling he gets when he knows that she's going to be alright.
"Yeah. That happens too..."
"Well it seems obvious to me that you like her." Iris tells him instantly and Barry shakes his head.
"Like her, I barely know her."
"Well some people fall instantly others don't. But who says time should be the standard? It's okay Barry, you don't have to be afraid."
"What if I screw this up?"
"What if she's thinking the same thing. You just...you have to know what you want and you fight for it. That's the only way to live to not have any regrets." Iris advices and Barry smiles at her genuinely it's moments like this that reminds him why he fell for this insightful woman, but now he knows he's over the feelings of unrequited love for her.
"Thanks, Iris."
It must have been half an hour later when he receives a text from Cisco asking him to get a package at a clothing shop that Dr. Wells had ordered for him and Caitlin and Barry does as he was told.
When he arrived at Star Labs it was already six in the afternoon and Cisco tells him Caitlin was getting a bit of heat from the furnace by Dr. Wells calculations she'll start losing heat in four hours and Caitlin is sure she won't suffer a relapse this time. So Barry decides to take a shower before donning on the suit, after which Cisco hands him the invites. Barry opens it and raises his eyebrows, "Mr. & Ms. Vontramp? Really, Cisco?" Barry asks Cisco.
"I thought it sounded pretentious, that's why I picked it," He hears Caitlin's voice from behind him and he turns on his heel and as he saw her he could feel his jaw dropping to the ground.
Caitlin was wearing a royal blue gown with a heart shape bodice, empire cut and A-line skirt, it was a simple classic gown without frills, laces or bead works. But it looked magnificent on Caitlin and the dark material perfectly contrasted her pale skin. And her red lipstick was just eye catching. Furthermore, the long black gloves she wore just added to the character of the whole dress. Her straight blonde locks were also tied in a high ponytail and she was now sporting full bangs.
She just looked...Wow!
"What?" Caitlin asks him as she stepped closer towards him, and Barry blushes.
"Nothing, uhm...you look really nice." And Caitlin grins. "I don't always dress in hospital gowns. The fringe is here because I have to hide the cut, it ruins the whole attire," and Barry laughs.
Dr. Wells and Cisco briefs them one last time of the plan of making sure that they capture Jules McLare or 'Hotness', and that they remember that the lives of civilians were top priority.
"Ready, Mrs. Vontramp?" Barry asks Caitlin and Caitlin hands him his mask before holding onto his arm, "Ready Mr, Vontramp." and with that Caitlin and Barry finally left STAR Labs.
Barry and Caitlin agreed that it would be best if they should look for Mr. Gold because they are positive that Jules would be where he is.
"He's got to be here somewhere," Caitlin tells Barry as she peers at the dancing crowd through her feathered mask, "How about you, any luck?" Caitlin asks Barry and he shakes his head.
"We should split up." Caitlin tells him and moves to the right side of the crowd and Barry goes to the left. Barry was very tempted to speed through the crowd, he would find Elton Gold faster that way, but seeing as there were cameras everywhere and it was too crowded in there, there really was no way of slipping unnoticed.
Barry thinks he must have rounded the whole building and ballroom before he finally spots Caitlin again. She was standing there at the edge of the crowd that gathered around the dancing couples and she was laughing and talking with a tall blonde fellow in a grey suit and silver mask. And he knew the twisting of his stomach can be no less than jealousy; he decides to make his way towards her.
He snakes his arm around Caitlin's waist and clears his throat, the other guy suddenly eyes him curiously but Caitlin didn't seem the least bit surprised.
"Oh, honey...I've been looking everywhere for you," Caitlin tells him dramatically before kissing Barry's cheek.
"Your husband?" The guy asks Caitlin and she laughs, "Oh Anthony, I did tell you I was married didn't I? This is my husband, James VonTramp, honey...this is Anthony Gold, Gold's son." And as Caitlin says the last part he finally understood and he held out his hand for Anthony, "A pleasure Mr. Gold, we're a big fan of your father, is he here?" Barry asks and Caitlin turns to answer for him.
"Anthony was just telling me he's staying at the marquee, having dinner."
"Yes, I'm sorry...I invited your wife to join us there." Anthony tells them and Barry nods his head.
"I declined of course; I couldn't possibly impose on a family affair." Caitlin tells them and Anthony nods his head, "Right. Have a lovely evening James...Kathleen." Anthony tells them before leaving them behind. Barry leans down to whisper in Caitlin's ear, "I think you broke his heart."
"Well, he should know better than to flirt with a married woman." Caitlin tells him pointedly. "We have to go there," Caitlin says to him and Barry agreed.
"Oh, this bloody crowd, everyone's dancing at the middle and the marquee is at the other side of the room." Barry tells her.
"You can't use your super speed or everyone will know," Caitlin says and she threads his fingers into her gloved hand, "Let's dance." She tells him and pulls him into the middle of the ballroom against the dancing crowd and Barry panics.
"I'm not much of a dancer." And Caitlin smirks at him, "It's okay, I'm the only one looking at you." And he knows he shouldn't be affected by her words, but damn it his emotions just went into overdrive.
He pulls Caitlin closer to him and confidently, he spins them around the crowd, the music in the background and people laughing around him just made him feel loose around her.
"I thought you said you didn't dance." Caitlin points out to him and Barry smirks.
"I never said that." Barry tells her pointedly, and Caitlin laughs as they continued to dance, and just as they arrived at the edge a couple of minutes later he dips Caitlin lightly and she arches her back to him, effectively leaning further into him. She stretches out her neck and all Barry could see was the milky expanse of her exposed skin. He dips his nose at the point between her collar bones and breathes her in. In a moment that barely lasted three seconds was a tradeoff of suppressed want and longing the two could no longer deny, "Caitlin," Barry breathes hotly into Caitlin's cold skin, and pulls her up, green meeting blue, and he sees, sees perfectly the way Caitlin's eyes glistened in the dark, her teeth pulling at her lower lip and his eyes drop at then.
How he wishes to tug at those lower lips with his own teeth if she loves it so much. But Caitlin pulls away, and heads towards the door, "We have a mission," She says as if to remind herself or Barry why they were there in the first place and Barry sighs as he follows her out into the deserted corridor.
"Caitlin I-" He begins but Caitlin spun around and placed her finger against his lips, and smiled at him rather sympathetically, "I know," she tells him.
"I've known," She says as she took her hand back, "for being the fastest man alive you sure are slow...we have time, later?" And Barry knows that she's right, that now's not the best time to discuss the thing that's brewing between them, and maybe it's because they've decided to keep the lid over their boiling emotions that causes it to simmer and escape into every action, surely it must be the reason why they feel so intoxicated in each other's presence.
He takes her gloved hand and tells her with a grin, "Let's get this over with." And Caitlin nods at him and together they headed towards the courtyards where a large white marquee was sitting on, and true enough there was a long table there with people eating and laughing while various flame throwers and a band was their backdrop the cool winds rustling the plants just made them seem more picturesque; trapped in their little world.
"I see Elton Gold," Caitlin tells Barry as she gestured at the grey haired man sitting at the head of the table drinking from a flute of champagne. And Barry looks around the table, he just knows that Jules was there too.
And he spots her, the girl with the big curls and red hair wearing a deep velvet dress with a high slit sitting with them, it seemed like she was someone's date as she laughed with her current companions, but ever so often Barry would catch her eyes flicking towards Elton Gold.
"Jules is here," Barry tells Caitlin, "I know." she replies as she opens her purse and plucks a couple of earpieces and hands one to Barry, she turns it on and says, "Cisco, it's Caitlin, we found Jules," and Barry hears Cisco telling Caitlin that they should keep an eye on her and to make sure no one finds out about them.
"Can you hold this for me?" Caitlin asks Barry as she hands him her purse and begun tugging at her skirt, and tore it off. She then tosses the material beneath a rose bush.
Barry eyes her then and notices that she was wearing tight glossy pants that were the same shade of blue as her dress and a pair of ankle boots. And Barry thought cold never looked so hot.
"What?" Caitlin asks him, "Nothing, I didn't know you had that underneath the dress." He tells her and Caitlin smirks, "You thought you're the only one who gets to have a super suit?" And Barry laughs.
"I'll watch Jules and you change too and hide, make sure no one sees you, but look out for me okay," Caitlin tells him and Barry nods in understanding before doing as he was told he settles on top of a tree dark enough so no one would notice his presence but also close enough so he can keep an eye on Caitlin.
He saw the people filling the courtyards and gathering around the makeshift stage were chairs we're set up as the Indian Circus' show was about to start. He watches Caitlin worriedly as he saw her join the people; all their faces in masks and he sees Jules put on her own gold mask and joining her date as they settle into their respective places.
Barry sees Caitlin sitting behind Jules and the beating in his heart instantly quickens.
Elton Gold steps in front of the podium to deliver the opening speech and the courtyard is instantly filled with a round of applause, until it fades and everything returns to quiet.
And Barry waits.
Caitlin readjusts the black mask on her face as she bit on her lower lip. Jules was barely an arm's length away from her and no doubt, she knows that they couldn't be mistaken she truly is a metahuman.
She shifts uncomfortably in her seat and attempted to distract herself with her futile movements. Because suddenly she feels this itch, the need to latch onto Jules' exposed arm and suck the heat from her. Ever since she woke up from her comma she had this longing for heat, and that's why she shies away from people, because she feels it the warm body temperature of her colleagues, feels the way she slowly drains the heat from them due to her presence. She's been trying to suppress these urges, and so far she's been doing great. Except with Barry Allen, the temptation to touch him or even hug him was getting more pronounce with every second longer that he stands in her presence.
But Jules is different; she feels it's the changed part of her that's reacting to their proximity. Caitlin knows just knows that if she touches Jules she will kill her.
And she sees it, the tiki torches and their flames moving against the current of the wind, no one notices it because they're too preoccupied with Elton Gold's opening speech...or maybe she knows because now she's akin to cold wind.
Just then the flames started to disappear and they completely extinguish, Caitlin sits at the edge of her seat watching Jules with bated breath but the red haired girl does not move nor flinch in her sit.
Elton Gold seems perplexed that there's no light and the crowd begins whispering to themselves, and suddenly a reel starts playing and Elton Gold squints at the light that blinds him and moves away.
A video plays of montages of families ruined by Goldmine banks, of mortgages and acquisitions it made without due consideration and testaments from employees with censored faces testifying against the corruption within the company, and Elton Gold and his entourage begun crying out in outrage.
But Caitlin had no ears for the gasps and cries surrounding her as her attention was casted to Jules' back, she could feel it...sense the anger from every fibre of Jules' being, it was pouring out through her pores in hot swirls of steam. Caitlin could feel it, feel it all and be drawn to her boiling rage. It was tempting.
Caitlin sees it the fire from the tiki torches returning and rising up to the heavens and people around her start to wonder if it was all a grand orchestrated pyrotechnics, then the tips of the tall flames started turning into hissing serpent heads and everybody screams, "Barry!" Caitlin says and she sees Jules rise from her seat her arms held up and Caitlin starts to panic as she saw Jules controlling the movements of the flames, the flaming snakes were heading towards the centre of the platform where Elton Gold was, Caitlin curses herself for not being fast enough to pull the glove down her arm.
Fortunately before the flames could reach Elton Gold, a red streak rushed him just barely escaping into safety. And Caitlin sighs in relief but Jules shouts in frustration and spun on her heels, before she could move Caitlin pins her to her place by freezing her feet to the ground, Jules' looks at the block of ice that surrounded her legs in surprise and turns to her back in confusion. And sees Caitlin with one ungloved hand raised towards her direction, Caitlin smirks at her, "You're not going anywhere...hottie."
Jules' moves to pull out her mask, her ruby red lips curving into a smile, "So there are others like me..." she tells Caitlin, "Trust me honey, you aren't so special." Caitlin answers and then adds, "You must come with us." Caitlin tells her but Jules' only laughs.
"You must know I don't easily get cold feet," Jules says and suddenly the air around them sizzles and Jules turns into a burning woman, melting the ice Caitlin casted at her, "Sorry coldly, but I've got a debt to collect." And Jules flies away like a ball of flame and the garden around them starts to burn, the fire spreading vastly and quickly, swallowing every open space and more people panics around her, "Barry, you've got to protect Gold and get as many people out," Caitlin tells Barry through the speaker hearing nothing but static as she runs and removes her other glove, she was heading back to the hotel which was also slowly burning, when a burning pillar falls in front of her and blocked the doors towards the hotel, Caitlin places her hands at the flames and extinguishes the fire from them, when that was done she continues to rush in, all the while wondering why Barry wasn't responding, she decides to contact Cisco instead as she sucked the flames from the burning hotel.
"Cisco, where's Barry? What do we do, the hotel is burning!" she says as the fumes start to fill the air, some collapsed people were already littering the area.
"Caitlin, Barry's at the second floor, he's fighting Jules you've got to stop her, the flames are coming from her. If you take away her heat the flames die with her," Dr. Wells answer her instead.
"How about Gold, where is he?" Caitlin asks, "Barry has gotten him out of the building." Dr. Wells informs her and Caitlin nods her head as she spots a stairwell and runs up the stairs. "Alright, am I getting close to them?" Caitlin asks.
"Yes, you are just keep going, they're at the lounge area."
"It'll be easier if you tell Barry to get her to me. I can't get through him, there's too much static." Caitlin says as she kept on running the fumes finally catching up to her eyes and making them misty.
"Caitlin, there's something you should know," Dr. Wells begin in a sombre voice that unsettles Caitlin, "What is it?"
"When you're close to Jules' you've got to hold her and take all her heat, but I must warn you doing so might be dangerous to you. You know what happens to hot glass when submerged in cold water..."
"The glass breaks," Caitlin says as a burning roof falls in front of her which she evades.
"We don't know if you you'll die or if Jules will die in the process. It's a risky thing for you to do."
"It doesn't matter, it's the only way...we've got to try." Caitlin says as she continued to run towards the lounge area but it was getting harder because she'd had to dodge flaming and falling debris, the glass shards from the broken chandeliers that were falling were poking at her exposed skin, "Tell Barry to bring her to me!"
"That's one of the problem...Barry refuses to do so, Cisco's been trying to tell him to do just that, but he refuses to risk your life."
"Patch me through, now!"
"Alright." And Caitlin listens in and hears Barry asking that Cisco find a way to turn the sprinklers on.
"...sucking the air out of here isn't working on her!" Caitlin hears Barry complain.
"Where are you?" She asks him, she hears him pause and then there's a noise akin to an explosion, "Barry!" she screams.
"Caitlin! I'm fine...I can take her on my own so get out of the building." Caitlin purses her lip at irritation, "Don't you dare lie to me, tell me where you are now!" Caitlin angrily asks him as she arrives at the lounge area but sees nothing but burning cushions.
"We're at the restaurant, but Caitlin you mustn't-"
"Don't tell me what to do when you yourself have decided to play hero." Caitlin spats at him as she ran towards the restaurant, she passes through the burning archway where the doors used to be and sees Barry trying to fight against Jules who was only spewing more fire at him, the moment she enters, it seems that Barry has seen her too and suddenly he whisks her away and they both hear Jules let out a frazzled cry.
"I won't let you risk your life!" Barry tells her as they settled outside the restaurant their surrounding all hot and red.
"That's not something you can decide." Caitlin tells her and Barry only looks frustrated with her, "Don't you care about how that'll make me feel? How you make me feel?" He tells her and Caitlin's throat clogs up wondering how it's so cliche to receive an almost love confession when everything around her seems to fall apart.
"I feel the same way," she whispers to him, "do you honestly think I'll let you risk your life for me? I can do it Barry, I won't die..." just when Barry was about to argue Jules appears before them and Barry shields Caitlin behind him.
"Where's Gold?" Jules asks Barry, "He killed my father! If you don't give him to me, this building and everyone in it will burn. Give him to me." Jules tells him.
"I can't really let you kill him," Barry tells her and Jules laughs a bitter laugh, "You'd save him? He doesn't deserve it. He deserves to die."
"I don't save people because they deserve it," Barry tells her, "I save them because it's the right thing to do. So don't do this Jules, don't let this man ruin your life for the second time."
"It's too late for that, In case you haven't notice but I'm not a hero like you." Jules says as she raises her arms and flames around them got more pronounced.
Caitlin knew there was simply no talking to her, she won't hear reason, they have no choice she has to do it, Caitlin freezes Barry's feet and Barry looks at her in confusion and she tugs her hand free from Barry's, "Caitlin, no!" but she does not heed his call and instead flung herself in front of Jules and wrapped her arms around her neck before she spun them around so she was staring at Barry's green eyes who had a look of betrayal on his face.
Caitlin feels Jules struggling beneath her arms, "What are you doing to me?" Jules asks her, the fire around them slowly subsiding, Caitlin raises her arms and casts a wall of ice to separate them and Barry because Barry's about to free himself from her ice.
"Stop this Jules," Caitlin tells her, "...stop this, because I won't." And Caitlin knows that she's telling the truth, she was right, sucking the heat from Jules is delicious, if she could describe its taste, she'd say it must be ambrosia, otherworldly and tempting. It makes her heady with need, and filled with a feeling of euphoria, like an addicting drug, Caitlin knows she's rapidly succumbing to the high.
"You'll have to kill me," Jules tells her as she tries to shrug Caitlin off but Caitlin's hold on her only tightens, she could already sense it, Jules' was weakening. She sees Barry screaming as he simultaneously punches the wall of ice in an attempt to break through it.
And Caitlin cries, and Jules' sharp screams of agony fills her ears. Caitlin could hear Jules' veins popping, she knows she was breaking from the inside but she couldn't stop herself, couldn't quench the thirst for heat. It was repulsive this weakness, primitive...this mindless want was simply barbaric and she hated this, she hated feeling like a monster, Jules' body turns frigid in her arms and the smoke and flames disappear, baring a burnt building and both Caitlin and Jules fall to the ground just in time as Barry breaks through her ice barrier.
"Caitlin," he says and rushes towards her, his eyes widening at the change in her appearance. The tie that held her ponytail broke, but no, it's not that that causes him to stare at her. The shade her hairs turns into, it's auburn and her tearful and scared eyes were no longer lovely blues, it was brown and he stares at the change slacked jaw and he envelopes her in his arms, cradling her softly for what must be less than ten seconds because Caitlin turns to address him.
"Please check on Jules," And Barry nods his head and checks for a pulse, Jules' skin was deathly cold and there was no response from her.
"She isn't breathing." Barry informs Caitlin and Caitlin's brown eyes widen in fear, "Take her to a hospital now!"
"Caitlin, I have to get you to STAR Labs first." Barry tells her but Caitlin shakes her head and bites her lower lip.
"You've got to save her, she can't die, not like this...not by my own hands." Caitlin says the last part almost like an afterthought and Barry wonders if he's heard her correctly, "Do it Barry...please...please, run!" Barry stares at Caitlin's crying face that was begging at him and he knows that taking Jules at a hospital would make Caitlin feel better than having him fussing on her. He gives her one last nod, which Caitlin returns before he hesitantly speed from the hotel and takes Jules towards the nearest hospital.
Barry waits as they rush Jules through the E.R., and he's half tempted to race back to Caitlin's side but he knows, unless there's a definitive statement about Jules' condition Caitlin won't be able to stop her worrying, it must be almost half an hour later when the doctor tells him that Jules has died.
Barry feels bad for the younger girl, feels the disappointment of her wasted life, at times like this he doubts if it's right that moral offenders such as Elton Gold gets to live in peace while people like Jules...die.
He knows she's not a bad person, she's just a girl who made bad choices, choices she didn't have to make if only Elton Gold never came into her life.
Tucking these thoughts in the recesses of his mind, he speeds back towards STAR Labs and sees Dr. Wells and Cisco sitting quietly as they watched the news, he told them that Jules was gone but they didn't really look surprise that she was. Fortunately no one has been recorded to have died, except for Jules, still there were a lot of injured folks.
"Where's Caitlin?" Barry asks, "Her tracker in her suit tells us she's at her apartment."
Dr. Wells tells Barry and Barry nods his head, grateful for the information, "I'll go to her," Barry tells them as he prepared to leave.
"Barry, just...leave her alone for now." Dr. Wells tells him, "Yeah man, everyone needs some time to brood, she'll be fine," Cisco adds, and Barry thinks that they must be right, maybe Caitlin needed a reprieve from all these and she best do by herself.
"Okay, but can I ask for her address? I want to see her in the morning." Barry tells them and Cisco scribbles down her address for him which Barry takes gratefully.
Barry arrives at Caitlin's apartment, beagles and a pair of hot coffee in tow and rings her doorbell, after some time of wondering why there was no one answering her door, Barry decides to clear the dusts off her window and peer inside it, it seemed empty and Barry decides to call Cisco who he knew was already in the lab.
"Cisco where's Caitlin?"
"The tracker on her suit still shows that she's in her apartment."
"No one seems to be home," Barry tells him worriedly, "I'll check it..." Barry says and jimmied through her door, and it opened with a creek. Her place seemed like I wasn't live in for in months (which it hasn't been) a coat of dust covering her furniture and he speeds through her room and finds her closet door open Caitlin's suit lying on the bed, Barry calls Cisco again, "Caitlin's gone, but she was here," Barry tells him in an agitated voice, "Call Dr. Wells, tell him Caitlin's gone, I'm heading there now!"
When Barry arrives at STAR Labs they wondered where Caitlin was but they didn't know where else she could have gone, she doesn't have any family left, she was far too involved with her work and that didn't allow her to gain that much friends, even Dr. Wells didn't know much about Caitlin.
"This is all my fault," Barry berates himself angrily.
"If I hadn't left her, she'd be here with us! Where would she go?" And then it struck him, and he knew that's where she would be.
"I'll be back...with Caitlin," Barry tells them and sped off.
He arrives at the beach it was early morning and families were gathered around its shores to bask in the morning heat, most people would be here for the sea, not Caitlin though, and he sees the figure of the tall light house and just like a northern star he knows that where he'll find her.
He ran to the top of the ivory tower and found Caitlin in foetal position tucked in a comforter, her brown hair spread around her and her skin flushed with colour and her image, of pure innocence in sleep takes his breath away.
It makes him realise that it was the first time that he likes seeing her with her eyes close, the first time he wishes she remain that peaceful, and he almost allows her to sleep, content to fixate his eyes at her long lashes that blew kisses at the crescent moons bellow her eyes. But he bends before her, his fingers tracing her scalp and threading through her hair and Caitlin stirs, her brown eyes find his and she sits up, their faces inches apart...
"So this is your place isn't it? I've got to say, I like it too...you wouldn't mind sharing it with me won't you?" Barry tells her and Caitlin rubs her forehead and bit her lower lip, "She's dead isn't she?" She asks instantly and Barry's not surprise that she does.
"Yes," he says quietly and Caitlin begins to wail a sob and Barry moves towards her to give her an embraces but she scurries away from him and he stays still, "It's my fault! I couldn't control it, I couldn't stop myself, it'll get worse I can feel it. It's better for all of you to stay away from me. I can kill people. Oh my god! I killed her...I killed a person...I murdered-" Caitlin says in between sobs, and even though Caitlin warned him to stay away from her, he still moved closer and trapped her in his arms, she flinched at his touch and tried to push him off her, but even as she struggled, he only held on more tightly and Caitlin gave up trying and allowed herself to basked in his touch, allowed herself to feel another being's comfort and cry wholeheartedly.
"I won't leave, you can run from me, but I'll always chase after you." Barry whispers in her ear as he draws circles on her back in an attempt to soothe her.
"You shouldn't, you don't know this yet but you'll regret meeting me. You'll wish you never met me, it'll be far easier to let me go now. Barry, one of these days what Cisco calls me will be someone I become. I will become a heat vampire and I can harm people." She tells him, and Barry wipes the tears from her eyes, he could feel his emotions rising up to his chest as well, he fears that day too, the day she loses control of herself but he wouldn't leave her, he won't allow that to happen to her.
"I think," He tells her, "It wasn't a coincidence that I met you, I think my whole life was leading me to the point of meeting you." And Caitlin stares at him in confusion, a steady flow of tears leaking from the corners of her eyes; he brings her knuckles to his lips and presses a soft kiss upon them.
"I've loved Iris for fifteen years of my life. I've loved her for that long, thinking that nothing and no one will ever change that. Fifteen years... can you imagine pining for someone that long, it's unnatural. But maybe that's how long I needed to stay in love with her for me to meet you. The day when you were hit by a thermodynamic explosion was the day of Iris' engagement party. I was hurting so badly that day so I purposely decided to arrive at the party at a later hour, because I stayed for a couple more hours you arrived, lying cold wavering between life and death. Thinking about it now I realised if I hadn't been there at that night I would never have met you, I would never had been struck by that lightning. Or it would have happened at a much later time. Don't you see Caitlin? You're the catalyst that changed my life. My life begun when I met you..." He told her and Caitlin sighs.
"Barry, you might be believing only what you want to believe..."
"What is so wrong about believing in that? What is so wrong in believing in us? In believing in you? Caitlin, I stopped loving Iris in a romantic way ever since I met you, even when you were lying on that bed unconscious."
"Maybe, you've just move on..."
"Fifteen years...I begun moving on when I met you. If I've move on earlier I might never have met you." Barry cradles Caitlin's face in both his hands, and he sees the doubt in her eyes, the insecurities she has but even sees the ray of hope behind those misty clouds, "I believe I was fated to love you." He says finally and Caitlin gasps.
"You don't know me, you haven't known me that long."
"I've known you for almost a year."
"I was unconscious most of that time!"
"I liked you then and I like you more now that you're awake."
"Are we still playing this game?"
"Yes we are, until I convince you that I'm not leaving you."
"Fine we'll play this, just know I play fair so don't cheat..."
"I never cheat in games I'll surely win."
"Don't be so sure."
"Don't you ever doubt," And Barry smiles at her before taking her hand in his and leaned his forehead against hers, "I'm late and you're early..." Barry tells her and Caitlin sighs, knowing that he's still playing this secret game of theirs, of truths and contradictions...a game about their most intimate thoughts laced in sarcasm, and read in poignant understanding.
"You're fire and I'm ice." Caitlin answers him and Barry nudges his nose to her own, "It took me half a year to fall for you." He confesses, "I've instantly felt drawn to you," Caitlin admits.
"You're a girl and I'm a boy who came from different paths," Barry begins, "But landed on the same road." Caitlin finishes.
"Even though we're so different. Right here, right now, we're both just in time to feel the same thing." Barry reassures her with a smile and Caitlin bites her lip as a lone tear escaped her eye, "I think I might be falling for you." She whispers at him and he smiles at her.
"I'm already there." Barry whispers back and breathes her in.
His lips finally captures hers, their first kiss shared in a wake of tragedies and miracles, of fire and ice, of loss and gain and in a lighthouse that had no light.
Because even though there's a theory called Murphy's Law saying everything that could go wrong will go wrong, there's also a different version of that, a far happier outlook, the one our forefathers have coined and believed in for centuries in times of deities and heroes.
It's called fate.
And that's what they were...they were fated to love each other.
Fin.
AN: So now you see the point of the title, damn this was long, I hope you liked it and if you do I'd love to hear your thoughts it's a writer's only return afterall…LOL. Also posted in tumblr.